At least ten cities in the Golden State are allowing Australian company Redflex to issue fake red light camera tickets. Under California law, a legitimate red light camera ticket must have a clear photograph of the driver for identification purposes. This is because the state issues points against the driver's license for all violations.

When some cities have an unclear photo of the driver, they don't want to risk losing the potential $350 fine. At the same time, Redflex charges $90 to mail a legitimate camera ticket whether it's thrown out in court or not. So these cities, including El Cajon, Encinitas, Hawthorne and Stockton, allow Redflex to issue a fake ticket that appears to require the registered owner to identify the driver. The response is to be sent to the Scottsdale, Arizona office of the Australian company and includes the notice, "Do Not Contact the Court."

That notice is there because this is not a real ticket, but an attempt to con motorists into violating their Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination.

In some towns the police are going to extraordinary lengths to get registered owners, or members of their household, to identify the driver. In those towns, if the technicians reviewing the photos see that the pictured driver is obviously not the registered owner (gender mismatch, or great difference in age) or that the photo is too blurry to be sure of who it is, one tactic they frequently use is to send the registered owner an official-looking notice telling him that he must identify the driver, within 10 days. (In the business, they call these notices a "nomination."